When stories intersect, you don’t always want to follow them all.

It sucks sometimes, because the heart in Freaky Tales is undeniable as 1987 Oakland makes a fun nostalgic and blood filled back drop for these intersecting stories, but as is usually the case with an anthology film it just doesn’t always work as the fun and the charm ultimately get diluted by a bit of an awkward slog.

Set in 1987 Oakland, Freaky Tales is a multi-track mixtape of colorful characters — an NBA star, a corrupt cop, a female rap duo, teen punks, neo-Nazis, and a debt collector — on a collision course in a fever dream of showdowns and battles.

In what is coming off as an obvious attempt to make something a little more indie and ‘outside’ of the system that they’ve been embraced by with their work on Captain Marvel and various large scale TV shows, the writing/directing duo of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck are kind of forcing it with an anthology effort that while not without its moments just feels a little stale and rehashed as we intersect with the variety of characters here.

There’s maybe 2/3^rd of a movie here at best because while the first two segments of the young punk kids fighting off the Nazis from their local club and the two female freestyle rappers trying to get noticed had some character development and value and when you tie that together with the Pedro Pascal debt collector character we’re at least interested.  The adventures with the dirty cops and NBA players in the latter half of the film just feel awkward and being gonzo for the sake of being gonzo.

There’s no doubt Boden and Fleck have talent and know how to make a film because while still obviously working on a budget, the movie still looks like a million bucks and it ropes us into the time pretty effectively even when it is trying to distract us with some unexpected cameos and fun moments, but it falls into the classic anthology traps.  Sometimes we’re actually emotionally invested in what’s going on, sometimes we’re just there for the ride.

None of the ensemble get that much runway to shine, but Pedro Pascal as our anchor in the anthology and our punk kids (Ji-young Joo and Jack Champion) in the beginning and their burgeoning love affair do get us hooked for the rest of what is to come.

Ultimately Freaky Tales wants to paint some dry humor and day glow neon into our lives to find a place somewhere between thick grimy Grindhouse fun and a dialogue laden character driven narrative of the golden years of the 80’s in a celebration of all that is right with pop culture.  Sadly it’s a little too gentle and sweet to be real Grindhouse and not layered enough to make us care about these characters for more than say 50 minutes of the films 97 minute run time.